Cold
by Sannikex
Summary: Ginny Weasley is assigned to the mystery man no one can heal. The man turns out to be Draco Malfoy and his curse has side effects. Ginny becomes trapped in his past. Will they survive and will they overcome the sad past they have? COMPLETE!
1. Default Chapter

Cold

By

Sannikex

Prologue

A/N: Hello, this is a story that just popped into my head when I listened to "I'm still here". First it was just going to be a song fic but it developed as I wrote it and will be a chaptered story. This will probably not be updated regularly until I have finished Angel of Music (which won't be delayed because of this story). Once again not beta-ed!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!

I hope you'll enjoy your reading!

October 1997

The offspring of the two darkest families in the wizarding world. A bearer of the name that was followed by shudders and uneasy glances. A name followed by assumptions. The name of Malfoy and Death Eater made no difference. All Malfoys were faithful followers of Voldemort, that was common knowledge.

Talk about prejudices, they say they don't have them and befriends werewolves and half-breeds, outcast and mudbloods without batting an eye, but Malfoys are always bad and evil. End of discussion. With a sneer he wondered what they would say if they saw his unmarked forearms.

I am a question to the world

Not an answer to be heard

He had just received a letter from his father with the _joyous_ news that he would be initiated this night.What was he going to answer? Great, Father, just what I've always wanted. Crawling at the feet of a mudblood.

And what do you think you'd ever say

I won't listen anyway

You don't know me

And I'll never be what you want

He would probably be killed if his father knew about his doubts. The love of a parent is like no else...

You can't take me and throw me away

There was a time when he had believed his Father's every word. He had looked forward to this day when he would join his Master's followers and fulfill his duty as a pureblood. But his father had lied to him. Deceived him since he was born. It had all been a lie. His whole life had not been real.

I want a moment to be real

Wanna touch things I don't feel

Wanna hold on and feel I belong

He didn't belong anywhere, not among the Death Eaters, not among the Slytherins, not in his family, not on the "light side". He was nothing until he chose a side. 

And how can the world want me to change

They're the ones that stay the same

They don't know me

There was one human on this earth who actually knew him. His only friend. Ironically she belonged to the "light side", belonged to the Gryffindors, belonged to her large family. Belonged to Potter. A stab of jealousy hit him. His friend was no one else but Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter's girlfriend. She was the only one who would care about what he chose. Truly. His Father, of course, cared about what he chose but he didn't care about his son and he didn't know that he doubted at all. 

You see the things they never see

All you wanted I could be

Now you know me and I'm not afraid

And I want to tell you who I am

But lately his feelings for Ginny had changed. He was in love with her. It was droll actually, a Malfoy, in love, upon that with a Weasley! Impossible. But she would never be his. And he would never be anyone's. Not his father's, Voldemort's or hers. He would be his own. 

They can't tell me who to be

'Cause I'm not what they see

The world is still sleeping

While I keep on dreaming for me

And their words are just whispers and lies

That I'll never believe

Rising from his table he went over to the Gryffindor table. The silence spread over the hall when he reached Potter and his girlfriend. He threw a piece of parchment in front of the raven-haired wizard."Voldemort and his Death Eaters will be there tonight. There's a map so you won't be able to get lost. They'll be initiating new followers." Baffled all students stared at the scene before them. Suddenly the blonde grasped Ginny Weasley's wrist and drew her up. For a moment he just stared at her before pressing his lips to hers in a short urgent kiss. The he spun around and left the hall while silence still remained. The subject was still popular among the student body at breakfast the following morning but the cheery gossiping silenced as the post arrived. On the front page of the paper was a picture of the discussed boy beneath the headline:

**_Draco Malfoy dead in flying accident_**

_The only son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, 17, tragically passed away in a flying accident late this night. Draco who entered his seventh year a month ago was by his way to meet his father at a meeting when he in the dark flew right into a tree. The Daily Prophet gives their deepest condolences to the Malfoys._

_Continuation on page 14 _

Shocked Ginny lowered the paper. The boy who had kissed her yesterday was dead. She could still feel his lips pressed against hers but he didn't exist anymore. Her friend was gone.

A/N: Feel free to tell me what you thought! The lyrics are from the song "I'm still here" from Treasure Planet. 


	2. Chapter One

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter One

A/N: Hi! Don't have much to say for once. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue

"Healer Weasley!" Ginny looked up from her current patient, irritated with the interruption. A nurse was standing in the doorway. _Probably doesn't want to get bloody_, Ginny thought with a smirk as she saw the girl's blue robes. Everyone who had been taken early out of Healer School or picked among those who didn't battle wore blue robes as a sign of their lower status. Ginny herself wore the official lime green healer uniform. At the age of twenty-four she had already managed to become one of the most capable healers in England. _One good thing that came out of this war_, she thought as she wiped her hands on a towel before washing them scrupulously. Then she looked up at the young recruit who looked sick herself.

"Yes?" Ginny asked impatiently. She had more work waiting, a man who had a nasty blood loss spell lay in the next room and the potions makers couldn't keep on giving him blood filling potion every fifth minute. Then there was the Auror she had promised a colleague to check on and the witch who had eaten something poisoned and now had three tongues that tangled in each other if she tried to talk.

"Uhh...the Head Healer wants to see you," the perturbing teenage witch said still looking a bit green in the face. Ginny sighed, now she would have to ask someone else to do all those things she should and she hated to ask for things. She nodded at the blue clad girl and left for the top floor where the Head of St: Mungo's, Hannah Abbot, resided.

"Ginny, have a seat," the pretty woman said, gesturing towards one of the comfortable chairs in front of her mahogany desk. Worriedly Hannah noted how thin and worn Ginny looked. The war hadn't been kind on anyone but in Ginny Weasley's eyes you could see eight years of war looking back on you.

In their Hogwarts days Hannah remembered Ginny as a happy, friendly girl with a heated temper. When she had become a healer she had been the most compassionate, kindest and warmest of all and the patients had loved her. But now there was nothing left of this disposition. In front of her stood a thin-lipped woman with her fiery red hair in a tight bun at the base of her neck, her eyes that once had burned for those in pain were now cold, distant and professional. Ginny sunk down in the chair and looked expectantly at Hannah. No wasting time here.

It was a pity really that war had to hit those who least deserved it the hardest. It was finally over now but just because You-Know-Who was gone didn't mean that his followers would give up. For two years they had just fought his loyal supporters.

"Well, Ginny..." It felt wrong to call this woman by a name she had always connected to a happy girl with a constant smile. "You see... We have this new patient," as she began to talk about things on well-known ground her voice grew stronger. "He's been hit by a spell we've never seen before. He's in comatose and doesn't respond to our Diviners." Sometimes people in coma were reachable through Diviners who could find their minds. Someone who the Diviners couldn't get connection with was most often people so deep within themselves so you couldn't wake up with multiplied Enervate charms. "Since we don't know anything about the spell I want someone qualified to preserve him. You're the only one I can trust with this, Ginny. You will be excused from all your other patients and duties until you can heal him." Ginny only nodded. It didn't matter to her who she took care of; she just had to do something. Something to help. She had to become better, stronger and faster so she could save people. So she could save Ron. Ronald, the youngest of the Weasley brothers who had been captured by Death Eaters in Lord Voldemort's last battle. They had tortured him for information on his best friend and the Order. Panicked as they were with the light side winning they had pushed him so hard that he had gone back to childhood. The thought of her brother made her clench her fists and grind her teeth. He was currently some floor beneath her in the same room as the Longbottoms and Gyllenroy Lockheart. She remembered the first time she had visited him, together with Hermione and Harry...

_Quietly Ginny opened the door and peeked in. Her heart wrenched as she watched her twenty-three year old brother sit by a table and draw together with a babbling Gyllenroy Lockheart, his tongue sticking out in concentration. She stepped in, Harry and Hermione behind her. The red-haired man looked up and his face lit up._

_"Ginny!" he rose and scurried over to his sister giving her a hug. He looked over her shoulder and saw his two best friends._

_"Who are you?" He asked curiously and Hermione had to turn away to hide her face. With a strained smile Harry answered, "I'm Harry Potter...Do you remember me?"_

_"Of course I do! Everyone knows who you are. You killed You-Know-Who," Ron said _

_matter -of-factly, waving his hand nonchalantly. "But you're so old! Harry Potter is born the same year as I am," he told them proudly, "and I am this old." He held five fingers up. He turned towards Hermione._

_"Who are you?"_

_"H..Hermione Granger," Hermione stuttered as her fiancée eyed her interestedly. Suddenly Ron's eyes glazed over and he said, "I loved a girl named Hermione once. She wasn't very pretty but she had eyes the same colour as Chocolate Frogs. She loved Chocolate Frogs; she used to give me the cards. I gave something else to her in a Frog box once and she was really happy..." Hermione gasped and fingered on the engagement ring that he had given to her in a candy box. "But the bad men took her long ago." His eyes turned from glazed to terrified, "No, no, no stop, stop!" He screamed and former Professor Lockheart looked up, "He does that all the time," he informed them cheerily before returning to his third self-portrait. _

_As fast as it had started it stopped and Ron looked at Harry who stood in front of him with panicked expression and Ginny who stood behind, wand in her hand to cast anything, something to help her brother. _

_"I don't have Morgana or Merlin yet but I'll buy a frog tomorrow. Mum promised me we would go to Diagon Alley after we waved Bill and Charlie off at the train," Ron told Harry earnestly before going back to the table where they had found him._

_"I've made a drawing for you, Ginny," he said and she swallowed hard before she walked over. This was hard to bear, his innocent face, the well-known voice that talked like a five-year-old. _

_"It's the Burrow. There's Mum and Dad and there's Bill…" He pointed at the rather overlarge Bill who stood beside his even bigger parents, smiling with a tiny house behind them._

_"Is that Percy?" Hermione had come forward and was gesturing towards a chubby figure lurking in a bush. Ron frowned at her and stated, "No, that's a garden gnome, _that's_ Percy." He showed a round face with abnormally large glasses in a window in the minimal house._

_"Oh," was all Hermione could manage._

_"I like you, you can have this one. It's my best," Ron handed his fiancée a drawing of a quidditchpitch. All the players wore bright orange robes and had flaming red hair._

_"Oh, Ron!" Hermione had to run out of the room to hide her tears._

_"I told you that no one would like that picture. The colours clashed _terribly_!" Lockheart told Ron, smiling with his whole face. _

_"I'm sure she liked she just had to go to the bathroom." Harry said with a reassuring smile but his eyes stayed dull…_

"Ginny? Ginny!" She snapped out of her reverie. "Are you coming?" Hannah was standing in the doorway waiting patiently. Ginny rose and followed the blonde out of the tastefully decorated room.

They had visited Ron many times since then but the pain was never ceasing, every time she went into his room she knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything until they knew what had made him go back in time. But Hermione had the heaviest burden. The man she loved could barely read the word "dog" any longer. He looked, smiled and smelled like her fiancée and still it was not he.

Again the head healer awaked her. They were standing in a corridor like any in St: Mungo's, brightly lit with white walls, and an occasional painting. Ginny noted surprised that she had never been in this particular before.

Hannah opened the door and Ginny went in. She had expected either a terribly marred or a sleeping stranger. But she had not expected this. She hadn't expected the hospital bed to be occupied by Draco Malfoy.

A/N2: So how was chapter 2? Don't hesitate to tell!


	3. Chapter Two

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Two

A/N: Hi! Short chapter but it's a sort of fill in before the real story starts. I hope you'll enjoy. Not beta-ed so you'll just have to put up with my hopeless grammars!

Disclaimer: Do not own.

Btw, if you'd like an answer to your review, leave your mail address and I'll drop you an answer. I am open for suggestions since I haven't come very far in the plot planning

Thanks to everyone who reviewed they make me sooo happy!

Ginny felt her legs turn to jelly and Hannah gently pushed her down in one of the uncomfortable chairs beside the bed. It couldn't be... It wasn't him. No, he had died seven years ago. The man in the bed was certainly not Draco Malfoy. Maybe some close relative...Was it possible to be so alike another person? Looking up at Hannah who was watching her closely.

"I thought it could be him but still...It's...He's been gone for so long," The blonde girl said shaking her head.

"He hasn't been gone. Draco Malfoy is dead!" Surprised by her colleague's fierce answer she said,

"How do you know?"

"He never contacted me," the redhead responded bluntly and the former Hufflepuff turned towards her best healer.

"Why in Merlin's beard would _Draco Malfoy_ contact you?" Sighing and leaning back in her chair Ginny answered,

"Secretly we were friends since my fifth year. I found him raging about his father in a dungeon. It was the first time I saw him show any emotion. I guess he was just sick of holding his facade so we talked for a bit and I just started to pester him about his life. He was rather relieved to share his problems with someone even if he would never admit it. We kept meeting and then he...he just left. No explanation, nothing. He just kissed me and was gone. I got to know through the papers like everyone else..." Staring off in space for a moment before continuing, "but it was probably for the best that he did as he did." Brushing off her robes she raised. She didn't tell Hannah why it had been for the best. She told nothing of the feelings that had started to form for her Slytherin friend. Not exactly how close friends they had been. Not that she had enjoyed his kiss. Not the sleepless nights when she had cried over his unfair life. How guilty she had felt around Harry before the tender feelings for her best friend finally had died a painful death the morning she had been handed a copy of the paper and read the head line. She could still feel the sun burning on her back, the smell of Hogwarts breakfast and the article. The letters had blurred and made a pattern, turning and twisting into an ugly version of his face...

She returned to the present and immediately turned businesslike again.

"So you don't know what hit him?" Confused by Ginny's sudden change of mood Hannah shook her head.

"No he was found by a witch north of Edinburgh like this. She informed us and he was taken here." Ginny just nodded and went over to the narrow hospital bed. Closer up the Draco-look-alike looked even more like _the_ Draco Malfoy. Of course not exactly like she remembered him, no this man looked older, more matured. He had grown into the sharp angles of his face that she recalled and a shadow of blonde beard grazed his jaw. But the eyebrows she childishly had thought resembled to gull wings were the same and so were the fine long lashes that were long enough to seem to be resting on his prominent cheekbones, the almost femininely full lips and the soft platinum blonde hair. But it wasn't him she reminded herself and suddenly realized that her hand was almost touching the man's hair and rapidly she let it fall. Collecting herself she pulled the covers from his chest and a gasp escaped her. A tattoo she would recognize anywhere stood out starkly against the man's pale skin. A black and green dragon spit fire just below his collarbone. Draco had had one... Her eyes flew to the man's face again. There was no doubt; this had to be Draco Malfoy. The _dead_ Draco Malfoy.

Thoughts swirled in her head, this just wasn't possible! He was dead! He was...quite alive. She returned to the chair and Hannah gave her a sympathetic look before leaving Ginny alone with her thoughts.

Ginny didn't know what she was feeling, what were you supposed to feel when your best friend who had been dead for several years appeared? Slowly she rose again and inched closer to the only living Malfoy. She had to heal him and then ask him questions. The answers had to wait for now. With trembling fingers Ginny touched the dragon tattoo. She felt a tug in her arm and the room turned blurry the dull white and gray of the room melting together. Furiously she blinked, trying to clear her vision. She seemed to regain her sight and felt as someone had hit her in the stomach. She wasn't standing in the sterile room at St. Mungo's she stood in what could have been Hogwarts but it was a lot darker. And steps were coming towards her.

A/N2: Cliffie! Ohhh, I'm EVIL when I want reviews.


	4. Chapter Three

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Three

A/N: If you keep sending me that many reviews this story will be finished in no time you know ;) I hope that you will enjoy this chapter that is the first that something really happens. Thanks to those who reviewed, thank them for the update!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Still.

Years of war had made it natural for Ginny to draw her wand and she quietly leaned back into the shadows. The steps were coming closer and Ginny held her breath, just to lose it in a painful "whoosh" as the man who had caused the steps came into the circle of flickering light. It was Lucius Malfoy. A younger Lucius Malfoy. If she hadn't known Draco like she did... she would have thought it was he.

He was walking quickly down the hall and silently Ginny followed. She had no idea where she was but a suspicion was forming in her brain. This was awfully alike Draco's description of Malfoy Mansion. But how in Merlin's beard had she ended up here?

She crept after the tall frame of Lucius who was walking briskly down the winding corridors, never hesitating a moment as he turned or went through a door in this labyrinth of dark and damp hallways. Ginny didn't have a chance to memorize the way so she just stayed as close to Lucius she could without risking getting discovered.

He stopped in front of a solid wall and Ginny wondered worriedly if he had gotten lost. But soon it was obvious he hadn't as he tapped his wand in a complicated pattern on the bricks and silently the wall swung open, revealing a room that the whole burrow would easily fit into. Opposite her there was a huge hearth that Ginny had to admire. It stretched over almost a third of the huge room. She had never thought of that you could have _long_ hearths but it seemed like the architect of the Malfoy estate had. They could have needed a mantle like that in the burrow to fit all the photographs that was placed upon the normal sized, dusty mantle there, she thought. But there were no photographs on the dust-free long mantle, only very tasteful decorations that must have cost about a fortune. There were no signs at all that betrayed that someone lived here. It made Ginny want to scream and scatter some papers over the floor and put a half made knitting in a chair. One of those pieces of knitting that just lay for you to pick up, safe with the knowledge that it would never be finished.

Lucius didn't seem to notice the lack of hominess as he kept on walking. Ginny followed him up a stairway and through a corridor where portraits of blonde severe looking people were silently following the living Malfoy with their cruel eyes. Ginny shuddered and something hit her. The portraits didn't seem to notice her, what from their point of view must be rather obvious, stalking. They didn't even acknowledge her as she crept in the shadows.

Finally after what Ginny thought was hours Lucius stopped in front of a door. Without knocking he went in and Ginny dared to peek into the room.

"What an utter mess! Clean this up immediately!" Ginny couldn't hold back a gasp. It was a bedroom and the white interior was spotted with red. It was blood everywhere. A woman lay in the bed deadly pale with strained breathing her blonde hair spread over the pillow. Suddenly baby cries erupted and Ginny realized that the woman in the bed must have given birth. But many years of experience as a healer told her that this labor had not went well. There was too much blood. Far too much she noted nervously and wanted to call out, make the others in the room see that the woman was in a serious condition.

"Of course, Master Malfoy. We just have to look to your wife first. There were some complications...But you have a lovely son, sir. Very beautiful" the nurse hurried to say as if it would help. But Lucius Malfoy just waved his hand impatiently looking at the baby in the woman's arms like he didn't understand how anyone could find it beautiful.

"So it's a boy? Good, then the potion worked. And of course, it is a perfect child. I wouldn't expect less. See to my wife now," He ordered his cold voice indifferent. Ginny felt sick. She knew that there was a potion for deciding the sex of a child but that someone used it...It was dark magic. She didn't expect less from Lucius, no, what really made her heart clench was that she knew that if the baby hadn't been a boy it would never have the chance to experience its first breath.

"Do you want to hold him, sir?" the same nurse asked and her colleague appeared with a bundle in her arms.

"Children are women's job. Clean this up now," Lucius answered and the nurse clutched the baby closer to her, as to shield it from hearing his father's harsh words while Ginny just stood dumbstruck. A father who thought it was more important to clean away his wife's blood because it messed up than holding his son was not worthy calling himself a father. The nurse bowed her head and silently put the bundle in a crib that with no doubt had cost a fortune with all its carvings and silky sheets. Then she and her colleague went to work with the woman in the bed. And about time, too! Ginny thought, her skilled eyes following the nurses' work. The baby started screaming, pitiful, lonely cries that wrenched Ginny's heart as they echoed around the room without receiving any attention. A baby shouldn't lie all alone its first moments in the world.

Lucius looked disgusted before casting a Silencio towards the crib. Now Ginny had to bite her knuckles to not hex the blonde man into oblivion. How, she asked herself, how could anyone be so totally emotionless?

He glanced at the bed uninterestedly before, looking at his wife like he didn't know her and didn't care that she was getting weaker each minute. Then he seemed to make up his mind about something and turned to walk out the door. And Ginny found herself standing right in front of him, unshielded with no place to hide.

A/N: Haha, I'm still EVIL because I still want reviews so I leave you a cliffhanger. See ya!


	5. Chapter Four

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Four

A/N: So sorry for the delay but I've been to Britain and then my brother accidently erased half the chapter and so on…Anyway it's here now and I hope you'll enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything owned by JKR.

Lucius' cold eyes looked straight through her. Ginny sighed in relief. She had this man on her hate list for too many reasons already without adding that he had killed her for trespassing in his house. She moved out of the way as he purposefully strode out. Then she went into the room. Now as she got the chance to look around more closely she noted that the whiteness came from cloth covering all the furniture and the walls. She could see the outlinings of paintings on the walls. A chandelier that looked very out of place in the white-covered room hung from the ceiling. In a corner the tiny crib resided. There were no flowers, ducks or snitches covering the little bed that with no doubt was built to resemble a canopy king-size bed. Instead the Malfoy crest decorated the crib and emerald green silk sheets covered the very fresh human being. The crying had died down and only small meowing sounds could be heard. But no one had time to listen to the baby or pay him attention, now it was Lady Malfoy's life that mattered. If she died they wouldn't get paid.

His first moments in the world were alone. His whole life had been alone. Empty of the warmth and love she had grown up with and taken for granted. She knew, he had told her, in the dead of the night, his eyes unseeing of his surroundings as he once more became the child he had been. She had listened, heard the longing in his unfaltering but quiet voice. The longing for warmth, for love. He was longing for something he couldn't name, couldn't understand, hadn't experienced. It had been the first time she'd touched him. She had held him, cradled him soothingly caressed his hair. She could still hear his voice now. A bit hoarse from talking so long he had whispered, "I'm cold, Ginny".

Ginny kneeled by the crib when the colours started to blur again. Could she be going back now? But her hopes were destroyed when she found herself in another magnificent room. It was a study. Bookcases lined the walls and an ebony desk stood in the middle and a group of armchairs in front of a hearth. There were no windows.

Behind the desk sat Lucius Malfoy, the firelight glinting in his hair and cool eyes. In front of it there was a woman. Her wavy brown hair was braided but stubborn tendrils kept falling in front of the deep brown eyes.

"I hope I've made everything clear, Ms. Parker?"

"Yes, milord. I am not to leave young master Draco's wing without permission. I am not to invite anyone here. What I hear, see and feel here, stays here."

"Very good, Ms. Parker. The house-elf will show you to your room and my son's."

"Thank you, sir."

The woman left and Lucius spun his chair around to face the dancing fire in the hearth. Not even the warm light embracing him could melt the aura of coldness around him as he lazily started to swirl the honey yellow contents of a crystal glass in his left hand. The right was drumming on the ebony armrest.

"Ms. Parker…Jennifer Parker…" He chuckled before sweeping all of his drink in one swallow. Something in his voice sent chills up Ginny's spine.

Once again the borders were erased and new scenery appeared.

"Oh! This room is wonderful!"

"Pleased Roddy is to hear that, Miss. Master Draco is too young to tell."

The woman from Lucius Malfoy's study was dancing around the huge room. She stopped and asked, "Where is he?"

"In his crib, Ms Parker." At the instant the house-elf had finished talking baby cries erupted.

"Sorry, Roddy is. Very sorry Miss!" The tiny creature hurried towards the little bed.

"Don't worry. Babies are supposed to cry. They can't talk so they have to express themselves in some way." The woman who was called Jennifer Parker said and shrugged her cloak off. "Now let's see what we can do for the little master."

She bent down and with great relief Ginny noted that the woman scooped baby Draco up with tender hands.

"You can go, Roddy. I'll manage on my own." The house-elf bowed and disappeared with its donkey-like ears still scraping the floor.

"Shhh…Everything is fine. Jenny's here now."

And that, Ginny learned, was a good thing. Jennifer Parker was the only human in the home of the youngest Malfoy. A shield from his father's cruelty and his mother's ignorance. Jennifer Parker was everything for the new Malfoy heir.


	6. Chapter Five

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Five

A/N: Hello! Time for update, don't you think? Here is chapter five of this story that I am growing more and more fond of. Not beta-ed. I hope you'll enjoy and don't forget to check the ending notes, they're very important this time.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to the Potter universe.

"Jenny, how many stars are there?" A little surprised Ginny noted that this time she had been moved what must be years. The little blonde boy who the redhead recognized at once as Draco, standing on his knees on a chair, leaning his elbows on the windowsill and his chin in his hands. Jenny in blue dressing gown was by the looks cleaning away toys. None of them looked battered or broken as Ginny's had been, they looked new.

"Loads," she answered and joined him by the window. Ginny moved after so she stood on the other side of the little Draco. Closer up it was hard to see that this boy was the Draco Malfoy that Ginny knew. The white blonde hair was the same, and the silver eyes but with round cheeks, tiny teeth and a confused wrinkle between his eyebrows it was hard to find the sharp, aristocratic angles that would become the handsome man in the bed at S: t Mungo's. Because it had to be him, no one else had a possibility to see the private memories in Draco's life.

"But how many?"

"No one knows, there are so many, Draco," Jenny said and leaned her head on the cool glass surface.

"What happens if someone has the same wishing star as someone else?"

"There are stars enough for everyone, sweetie. Now make your wish and go to bed."

Staring intently up at the sky with the little nose scrunched up in concentration. Then he climbed down from the chair and padded on bare feet to the gigantic bed. Jenny lifted the covers and the boy settled.

"What did you wish for today? The same as always?"

"Yes," he nodded and Jenny turned the light out. The woman leaned down and kissed Draco's forehead before walking out, closing the door softly behind her.

The room was pitch dark and not even a sparse candle lit up the room. Ginny walked closer to the bed wondering how it was possible for such a small child to go to sleep in the dark. She had been afraid of darkness a long time after she'd been at the same age as Draco was now. Suddenly his voice whispered in the dark,

"I wish for my dad to love me. If he does I'll promise him to never be scared of dark again." Her eyes had gotten used to the blackness and she could make out his face. The gray eyes looked huge in the pale face and her heart shivered in despair. How could a beast like Lucius Malfoy ever be allowed to have children? He looked so small, Draco, where he lay in the ridiculously big bed, talking to keep himself company.

"He lives in the Master Bedroom, Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, Wales, Great Britain..." _The world, the universe,_ Ginny thought sadly, reaching out and caressed the soft blonde hair.

Without noticing the room had grown lighter and she was no longer sitting on the bed. She was in Lucius study again.

"You have to see, sir. He can't sleep if the lights are out. I have to sleep in his bed or he'll be allowed to have a candle in his room." It was clear she had just been transported some minutes this time as Jenny was wearing the same blue dressing gown as in the previous memory. She was standing in front of the desk in Lucius study, her brown eyes determinedly fastened in the ice gaze of the elder Malfoy.

"I can decide perfectly well what's best for my son myself, Ms. Parker." No one could look straight into the eyes of Lucius Malfoy for too long. Jenny had to look down and Ginny saw carefully hidden triumph in his eyes. These discussions had to occur pretty often, she mused.

"No, you can't," Jenny said softly and raised her eyes from the floor. Lucius looked taken aback for a split second. He thought he had broken her.

"Pardon me?" he said silkily and Jenny seemed to shudder. But none the less she defiantly repeated, "No, you do not know what's best for your son." The cold eyes seemed to flash as he rose swiftly. Jenny staggered backwards at his sudden proximity. Then with the rapid moves of a snake, Lucius took a step forward and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Stepping even closer he tugged at her hair making her bend her head back, exposing her neck.

"Do you think that I don't know you work for Dumbledore? Do you think I am stupid Ms. Parker?" he whispered. "Answer me!" He shook her and she winced as the cold hand gripped her brown, wavy hair tighter.

"No," she spat.

"No, sir, it is for you, little mudblood lover. Do you know what I do with mudblood lovers?" he hissed.

"You take them down in the secret dungeons."

"Good, little traitor. Dumbledore would be pleased. It's too bad you won't ever tell him."

"What do you mean?" Jenny said and struggled against the iron grip holding her.

"I mean that you've picked the wrong side, Ms. Parker," Lucius said as if he was talking about the weather. Then everything happened so fast that Ginny could only stand dumbfounded and watch. Lucius whipped his wand out, let go of Jenny's hair and shot a spell before Jenny could react.

"Sectusempra!" Ginny had heard that spell before, it was a cutting spell, Harry had used it by mistake in his sixth year. Jenny fell to the floor, Lucius took a step back to not stain his robes and the door banged open. It was Draco. He kneeled at his nanny's side, watching the blood oozing out from the cut across her chest.

"Father, what did you do? You hurt her!"

"Yes. She was a traitor."

"What's a traitor?"

"People who don't deserve to live." With that the Malfoy swept out of the room leaving his son beside the only safe port in his life, watching her die.

"Draco..." Jenny croaked and suddenly Ginny woke up from her paralyzed state. She drew her wand and kneeled at the other side of the woman not caring about breaking the rules of time travel. She had to save the woman even if it changed the path of time. But her spells didn't do anything good. She couldn't use her wand.

"Jenny? I thought you were dead. You're bleeding much."

"I know. Now you must listen to me, darling. I won't be here any longer but could you try to remember me?" Tears had started to fall down Draco's face but he nodded.

"Don't forget to wish on your star every night. One day your wish will come true."

"Yes, Jenny." As a healer Ginny saw that now Jenny didn't have many moments left and her hate for Lucius Malfoy almost choked her. _I wish that one day he'll pay!_ She looked down on the young woman bleeding in front of her. She wasn't very pretty but her eyes were illuminated from the inside, you immediately liked her when you saw her. The healer in her noted when her breath stopped and Ginny herself noted how the glow in the brown eyes died. Beside her Draco's voice spoke.

"Goodnight, Jenny."

A/N: At the moment the whole world is struggling to help the people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. So is the HP fanfiction fandom and I have a link to how you can help. Just paste it into your browser (without the spaces): http / www. livejournal. com/ community /propheting/


	7. Chapter Six

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Six

A/N: Hello all! I hope you will enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that belongs to someone else.

Ginny sighed as the scene once again blurred. The fact that she didn't seem to able to use her wand she'd just ignore, she didn't want to express to herself that she felt like a muggle would without his hands. Desperatelt seeking for a distraction she looked around and suddenly realized that there was music around her. She turned and saw a sight that warmed her heart. Draco was sitting next to his father on a stool, playing the piano together. Lucius handled the pedals since young Draco's feet did not reach the floor; they were sticking straight out in front of him making it hard to reach the keys. He's fantastic, Ginny thought, surprised. Draco had never told her he could play the piano and how well. If he played like this when he was five...she mused and enjoyed the tune and that Lucius was spending some time with his son, she knew how much that would mean to Draco. She walked closer silently, not thinking about that they wouldn't be able to hear her if she started screaming. She was listening to a tune played twenty years ago.

"Master Malfoy!" A house-elf that Ginny with a squeak recognized as Dobby stood in the door. "A man has come for you sir, a master Williams." Lucius nodded and with a careless shrug he said, "Play for two more hours, Draco. Then you go to Mr. Férou and repeat your French verbs." Then he left.

"I did everything right. I played it right. Why did you go?"

In front of her eyes the young Draco grew but the tune never changed. His cheeks lost their roundness, the hair darkened a bit, his hands moved more confidently but the melody never stopped. Lucius or some house-elf came now and then to say something, most oftenly it was about some class or other. She realized that she must be seeing Draco's life in fast forward. Classes, lessons…She thought about her own childhood. What had she known before she started at Hogwarts? Not much, at least not compared to what Draco Malfoy must have known. Suddenly the door swung open with force.

"Draco!" the command was short and hard. Ginny had seen now that there were no healthy screaming, loud arguing and crying in this house, everything was solved in Lucius way, quietly and coldly. The pale boy rose from the piano, what could he be, ten, eleven?

"Yes, Father?"

"Come with me." With his head bent he followed silently in his fathers shadow. Ginny followed him. "I do not tolerate such behaviour as I heard from the elves. You will spend the night in the dungeons thinking of what it means to be a Malfoy." She saw the little colour Draco had on his cheeks disappear.

"Yes, Father." Cold hallways passed as they went downwards, downwards until Lucius stopped in front of an iron door with the handle formed as a withering snake. In mock gallantry Lucius held the door open. Ginny saw three steps in a stair and then darkness.

"I'm only doing this because one day you will realize what an hounour it is to carry the name of Malfoy. It's for your own good." The door closed and all she could see was soft black darkness. She heard a shaking breath to her right and then a whisper.

"Yes, Father." She reached out to touch him but there was nothing but his echoing steps as he went down the stairs deeper into what must be his personal hell. Darkness.

"Oh, Draco"

She straightened up as the world blurred it was sunny and warm. She was standing in the middle of a crowd of people. Platform 9 ¾ . The bright red Hogwarts Express gleamed and the noise was unbeliveable. It was a bit of a shock to see her family. Her mother, Percy, the twins, Ron and, there she was herself. A skinny girl with huge brown eyes and freckles, lots of freckles. But where was Draco? If she was here then he had to be here too. Then she spotted him, he was standing with his parents closer to the train. She reached them just as Narcissa bent down and kissed the air above Draco's cheek. Lucius just nodded and Draco headed for the train. A house-elf followed with his trunk. He settled down in a compartment in the back of the train in the seat closest to the window. Through the glass he had a perfect view of her family. His had apparated away the moment he'd stepped into the train. Her mother was fussing over Ron who had dirt on his nose. The twins were teasing him. Friendly family banter. Her mother hugged them to their great embarrassment and from where she stood she heard Draco whisper, "What did they do to deserve it?" Her heart ached then, for the boy who thought that you had to deserve someone's love in a family. After a few moments the train started to move and she saw her younger self let go of her mother's hand and run after. Tears were running down her cheeks but she laughed at Fred and George who promised to send her a toiletseat. The young Malfoy's breath hitched for some reason and she could guess why. No one ran after him. No one shed tears because he left.

At first she didn't realize that the scenery had changed, they were in another compartment just that this was occupied by Harry and Ron. It was weird to see your childhood crush again like he had been. Especially as an adult...He was so _little_. So very skinny and in pathetically big clothes. Her hero. Draco was standing in front of him, offering his hand. If she remembered correctly from her brother's raging Draco had told Harry that he could help him find the right kind of people. He was probably saying the exact words his father had told him. Harry's eyes had turned chilly and he neglected the blonde boy's offer. For a moment Draco seemed surprised by this. Then his features darkened. He was thinking about what his father would say. She could read him so well by now.

A/N2: Well, short, and just a sort of fill in between more important things, but it is an update, I'll try to be quicker with the next one. So what did you think?


	8. Chapter Seven

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Seven

A/N: Hey! New chapter that I hope everyone will like! Not beta-ed, as usual, I hope you forgive me!

Disclaimer: I don't steal, I'm so boring.

She had never been in this room at Hogwarts. The Slytherin boys' dorm. She had been in the Gryffindor boys' but it looked nothing like this room. There were no windows and it was square instead of round. The hangings were emerald green instead of scarlet and the atmosphere was somehow lacking. In the Gryffindor boys' room you could almost sense all the boys who had lived seven years of their lives there, the traces of laughs, tears, first loves, anger and happiness hung the walls like invisible paintings setting the mood for the next generation. Here the walls were clean. Absolute silence reined, the people of the past held their secrets. When a Slytherin boy closed his trunk he stuffed all memories of his presence in it, leaving nothing but cold emptiness behind. It was in this emptiness Draco Malfoy was dwelling at the moment that must have taken place fourteen years ago. He was sitting on his bed, not sprawled out comfortably but with his back straight and his eyes fastened on the stonewall. The classes for the day had to be over since his schoolbag was thrown at the foot of the bed and his roommates' robes were scattered around but young Draco had not undone his tie or pulled up his shirt from his trousers. He was just sitting still. Ginny walked up to him and as she came closer she saw the anger burning in his silvery eyes. She almost immediately found the reason to why he was angry. He was holding a piece of parchment; a letter and Ginny could make out the signature as L. Malfoy. The only other thing she could see since he had scrunched it up was the word 'disappointed'.

Draco Malfoy's father didn't rage. He was disappointed. There was nothing Draco hated more than when his father was disappointed. Ginny learned that whenever a letter from Lucius arrived containing the word disappointed, which was pretty much all of them, Draco would take out his anger on his environment.

…_I was greatly disappointed that you could not persuade Potter to step over to you…_

…_I send these brooms for the Slytherin team in hope that you will not disappoint me…_

…_I hope there won't be any other disappointing notes from Professor Flitwick about your Charms grade…_

…_I cannot express the disappointment I felt when I saw your grades last year, make sure you put some effort in this year, Draco…_

…_I fail to see why you would disappoint me again by failing in beating Potter in Quidditch, the boy wears glasses for a reason…_

…_Don't disappoint me again…_

She lost count as time sped up. He grew once again in front of her eyes and with a painful thud her heart constricted as she recognized the Draco Malfoy she had known. Tall, slim and with the face of a god. The surroundings had changed too, she noticed, they were now standing in a dungeon. Draco was storming around the room ranting under his breath. The door creaked and with a weird sensation gripping her she looked at the younger version of herself. The young Ginny stopped in the door.

She remembered that she had been looking for a place to be alone for a moment and had ended up far from her safe port, the Gryffindor common room, in the dungeons simply because she hadn't spent much time exploring that area of the castle. Draco stopped and stared at her.

"What do you want, Weaselette?" The young Ginny was about to back out again when she stopped, she had seen the unshed tears in his eyes. She hesitated for a moment.

"Malfoy, are you...alright?"

"Get lost. Go and bother Potter."

Ginny remembered how she had been on her way out when her conscious stopped her. He was cruel and despicable but no one deserved having that look in her eyes that almost made her cry too, she'd thought and decided against leaving.

"No." She went into the room and closed the door with a final snap.

She was glad she had. With that fateful 'no' she'd entered his world and she knew that she had done the right thing, no matter how much grief the boy had caused her, even though he'd broken her heart more times than she could count, she knew that he had deserved her consideration that day.

Uncountable meetings flashed past, in the dungeon, in a secret room on the second floor, secret note passing in the corridors and discreet looks in the Great Hall. And now, when she stood as an outsider to her own life she noticed how he looked at her. When she didn't see, his eyes could become wistful. At first she didn't perceive how his eyes rested on her, first thoughtful, then confused, angered and finally wistful. It was quite a chock to find that Draco Malfoy had been in love with her even before she'd fallen for him.

She saw herself walking with Harry and wanted to hit something, why hadn't she _seen_, understood that what she felt for Harry was idolization, not _love_. She didn't really want to see him weak, he was like her hero. Draco she had seen at his best and his worst and been honored that he had confided and put trust in her. Why hadn't she seen it earlier? Maybe she could have stopped him from dying that day, the worst day in her life, even worse than the Final Battle. Maybe it hadn't been to late to, not redeem, he didn't need to be redeemed, but to show how you could love.

Merlin, it was just wishful thinking but her heart ached in a way she'd only experienced twice in her life. The first when Draco had died and the second when she realized what the Death Eaters had done to Ron. With a painful twist inside she looked around. _No! No, no, no, no, not this memory, she didn't want to see. Please, anything, just not this I can't take it!_ It was the morning Draco left from her life forever.

She saw him rise from the Slytherin table and walk towards her. The young Ginny was laughing, happily, unknowing what was about to happen. _Please, no, I don't want to see it!_ She tried to turn away but couldn't make her body move. _Not this, I swear I will wake the Draco at S:t Mungo's up if I just don't have to see this! I will become a better person; I will do whatever it takes to wake the man up if someone just makes this go away!_

With a lurch the scene died just as Draco reached her. She felt that she was sitting on a floor, leaning her forehead against something but she didn't dare to look up, her heart couldn't take more. It was like all the pain she had felt during the passed years about the loss of her love had doubled and wringed itself out over her head, drenching her in an ocean of heartache. Her cheeks felt stiff and she realized that she had been crying. It was years since she had cried. Gathering all her Gryffindor courage she looked up. And blinked. She was back at S:t Mungo's! On shaking legs she rose and looked around. The room looked exactly as she'd left it so she had to be back in the present.

"Ginny?" A disbelieving voice croaked and she whipped around.

"Draco?"

A/N: I'm just so EVIL today, mawahhhahah! I hope y'all had fun reading, if you did, tell me because I love that!


	9. Chapter Eight

Cold

By

Sannikex

Chapter Eight

A/N: Welcome to chapter eight that isn't beta-ed but nonetheless worth your time, hopefully.

Disclaimer: No, I'm not J.K.R. Actually.

"You're awake!"

"You were always good at stating the obvious, Ginny." A half-smile fluttered over his lips. The well-known teasing broke the last walls around her heart. She kneeled beside the bed as sobs wracked her entire body.

"I thought you were _dead_! How could you?" She pounded his bed with her fists. Draco Malfoy paled.

"I didn't mean to…I didn't think you'd…" She looked up and suddenly anger burned in her red-rimmed eyes.

"That I wouldn't care? That I wouldn't miss you? You self-centred bastard! You were my best friend! I loved you for Merlin's sake!" Her hair had started to escape the bun and fell in vibrant curls around her face. He turned his face away from her.

"No, you didn't, Ginny. Not the way I loved you." The anger died.

"Yes, I did." She whispered. "I just didn't see it." Slowly he registered what she said and when her words made sense she was already out the door.

-----

"Are you sad, Ginny?" Her brother's innocent eyes were staring into hers with sincere concern.

"Yes, Ron. I'm sad."

"Why?" He sat down beside her with his arms around his knees. It looked ridiculous for a man in his thirties to sit that way and it was like salt in her wounded heart to see it. She couldn't help him just as she couldn't help Draco. He'd had a miserable childhood that she could not do anything about and now her brother was having a miserable adulthood. He didn't have any at all.

"I just feel helpless, that's all."

"Why?"

"Because I can't help the people I love."

"But you are doing your best, right?"

"Of course I am."

"But then you can't do more." He looked at her like she wasn't very bright. Her shoulders slumped.

"I guess you're right." She had done everything in her power to make things undone and however she struggled it just was not going to happen. "I can't do more." She looked around the room. Lockheart's corner filled with posters and pictures of himself. Ron's corner filled with pictures of the Cannons and own drawings, toys and things from a stage Ron had passed long ago. "I just wish there was."

-----

"Nurse Connery!"

"Yes, Healer Weasley?"

"Patient 203 is awake now. Make a spell test on him now." The nurse bowed her head and hurried down the corridor. Twenty nervous minutes the nurse returned. In silence Ginny read the test results.

"No!"

-----

The moonlight never reached this room. There were no windows. The only source of light was a bleak candle on the bedside table. The man in the bed was breathing steadily and lay very still but he wasn't sleeping. A sudden noise from the door woke the man from his wake sleeping. A woman stood in the doorway. Her violently red hair hung in a wild tangle, she was shaking and her cheeks bore traces of countless tears.

"Draco…" Her hand on the doorknob trembled from suppressed feelings and her voice trembled from unsuppressed longing. The man mad a sound like someone had just hit him, something between a grunt and a sob. It was a sound of pain. The woman approached the bed in three rapid steps and kneeled beside it. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She kept repeating the words over and over.

"Shh…" The man put a finger over her mouth. He traced her lips slowly and a keening noise escaped her. He wiped away the tears extremely gently as new ones kept falling like a summer's rain, quietly, softly. Then he bent closer and ever so slowly he sealed her lips with his.

Somehow the air in the room shifted, the tension disappeared, there was relief like breaking through the water surface right before you can't stand it anymore, it was like coming home after being away for a long time, it was like falling through an endless darkness without being afraid of hitting the ground. It was two hearts that had ached with every beat for years becoming one and finding consolation from the pain.

"Hold me. Just hold me." The man opened his arms.

----

The nurse smiled and closed the door to the room quietly. She could do the tests later or Healer Weasley could just do them herself, she was there already. With a grin the nurse considered going down to the nurses' lounge and tell her colleagues that strict and professional Ginevra Weasley was lying in a patient's bed with said very handsome patient's arms around her, sleeping peacefully.

**Epilogue**

The coffin was lowered slowly into a newly opened grave. A man stepped forward and turned towards the crowd of black clad people. His hair was grey and his eyes a startling green behind round glasses. A faint scar shaped as a lightning bolt could be seen on his forehead.

"We have gathered here today to say our goodbyes to Ginevra Malfoy. She was a truly amazing woman. I would like to tell you a few things about her. Some you might know, some you might not." He cleared his throat and looked out over the crowd. "The first time I met Ginny I have to admit that all I saw was Ron's little sister and I was oblivious to the crush she honoured me with. Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor as she was very brave, smart and kind hearted. We were all happy to have her in our house. She was a talented Quidditch player and she proved her courage numerable times. She went with me to the Department of Mysteries when she was just fourteen years old. She joined the Order the minute she was allowed and celebrated her seventeenth birthday on mission risking her life. She was always kind to those who needed it the most and she became the most capable healer in Britain. She cured her brother after years of research when all of us had given up long ago." A tall man with thin hair and long nose blinked away some tears. The woman beside him squeezed his hand and wiped away her own tears with a handkerchief. The initials on it were H.J.G.W. Hermione Jane Granger Weasley.

"But what illustrates her personality the best is the story about her and Draco Malfoy. I got to know a long time afterwards that she had befriended Draco Malfoy whom we all thought of as a Death Eater in training. She didn't let herself to be fooled by our prejudices and found a friend in him." He swallowed. "She found more than that but a series of misunderstandings led to that Draco Malfoy pretended to die to not have to become a Death Eater or turn his back to his family and his whole life. He lived in exile for years. During this time the Ginny we knew started to fade, something was missing and we couldn't imagine what. We couldn't imagine that she was mourning a love that never had time to grow. Then something happened. Draco Malfoy returned to the living. The Death Eaters had found him and I don't think it's possible for us to imagine what they put him through. But Ginny managed to wake him from the comatose he'd been pushed into. They got a year. The happiest year in her life Ginny told me. She discovered that the Death Eater's had not taken anything for granted. They had placed a very slow working poison in his body if he against all odds would survive the comatose. Even knowing he was dying Ginny married him and did so gladly. Draco Malfoy died very slowly and painfully three months after the marriage. I know that Ginny wanted to follow him then but she brought up her courage once again and lived on for her son. I am honoured to call myself her friend and I know that Ginny is much happier where she is now because that's where Draco is. Goodbye Ginny"

-----

The moonlight glinted in the white blonde hair of the man. His cloak whipped around his tall frame where he stood completely still, looking down on the tomb of his parents. He'd been there many times before together with his mother. But then there had been only one name on the stone and his mother had stood beside him. Tears had been rolling down her face but she had been there. Breathing and living.

"Goodbye mum. Say hello to dad." Then he left.

The stone he'd been looking at shone in the bright light.

_Draco Malfoy _

_1980-2011_

_And his beloved wife_

_Ginevra Malfoy_

_1981-2047_

_Through Cold and Pain_

_Nil Volentibus Arduum_

_All For Love_

**The End**

A/N: This it is. The latin on the tomb is translated to 'faithful to death'. My first attempt at sad ending…How did I do?


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